“Were we successful? Did Di come through?” Stella was asking, looking from one to the other of them.
“Something came through,” Elysia said tartly. “Loud and clear.” With Mr. Meagher’s help she got Chloe into the next room, where they bundled the trembling girl into her coat.
“Gosh, that was totally amazing,” Suze was telling Stella. Stella smiled feebly. One of her many cats leaped lightly on the table, and she picked it up, cuddling it against her.
“You seem shocked,” she said to A.J.
Elysia poked her head back in. “Andy, you’re staying with A.J. tonight?”
“I—” Andy looked uncertainly at A.J. He looked pale, she thought, although perhaps it was just the faded light.
She opened her mouth to reject any such arrangement, but she realized she didn’t want to have this discussion in front of her neighbors. She also realized that the last thing she wanted was to be alone tonight. If it weren’t for Monster, she’d have been inviting herself over to Starlight Farm for a sleepover.
She nodded shortly.
She could tell that Stella wanted to talk to her, but A.J. felt too strange and confused by the events of the séance. Trailed by Andy, she followed her mother and Meagher as they helped Chloe outside and into Mr. Meagher’s car. Elysia climbed in as well.
Andy said, “Is it really okay if I stay at the farm, A.J.? I can get a room at a motel in town, if you’d prefer that. I’m too tired to try and drive back tonight.”
“It’s okay. It’s a big house,” A.J. said.
“I remember.”
Yes, that was right. They had spent a weekend at Deer Hollow not long after they married. It had not been a wildly successful weekend. Until then it had never crossed A.J.’s mind that the two people she loved most in the world would not love each other equally as much.
He unlocked her car door and then went around to the driver’s side and started the engine. Neither spoke as they pulled out of Stella’s yard and sped down the unlit highway.
A.J. shivered and Andy leaned forward, switching the heat on full blast.
“That kid’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” he said.
A.J. murmured agreement. The skeletal trees that appeared in the spotlight of their headlights looked stark and tortured.
“I wouldn’t let a kid of mine—” He broke off.
She stared at his profile.
After a very long moment he said hesitantly, “Are you okay? You went white when she…pretended she was Diantha.”
A.J. said slowly, “Did you see her eyes?”
“Whose eyes?”
“Stella’s. When she was…supposed to be channeling Aunt Di. Her eyes were pale blue!”
“So?”
“Her eyes are brown.”
“No way,” said Andy. “That had to be some trick. Fake lenses or something.”
“I know. I do know. It just…freaked me out.”
Andy was silent. They were turning into the drive to Deer Hollow before he said, “That was kind of weird. The stuff about ‘grave danger’ and ‘taking care.’ What do you think it meant?”
“That there’s a murderer running loose.”
He glanced her way. “Do they have any suspects beyond you?”
“I’m not a suspect anymore.”
“You’re not?” His surprise was evident.
“Detective Oberlin was able to verify that I was home during the hours that Aunt Di was killed.”
After a thoughtful silence, Andy said, “Well, that’s good news anyway. So who’s this Chloe kid?”
“One of Aunt Di’s protégés, as far as I can gather. She’s had a rough time. Her dad committed suicide and she developed an OxyContin addiction. I think she’s having trouble coping with Aunt Di’s death.”
She thought of that lost and childish I want to talk to Di and was ashamed of her earlier spark of jealousy.
“Maybe she killed your aunt.”
A.J. stiffened. She tried to read his face in the eerie glow of the dashboard. “Why would you say such a thing? She’s just a kid.”
Even as she spoke the words, she knew they were ridiculous. As appalling as it was to consider, teen violence was nothing new; it just got more airplay these days. She thought of her own turbulent adolescence. She had been a quiet kid, a “good” kid, but without the stabilizing influence of Diantha, who could say how she might have acted out her resentment of her mother’s illness—and her father’s preoccupation with the same?
But Andy seemed to understand her shock. He shrugged. “I don’t know. She seems like a nice enough kid. A little fragile. It just occurred to me that that ‘Chloe…take care’ bit could just as easily mean ‘Watch out for Chloe.’”
A.J. opened her mouth and then closed it. There really didn’t seem much to say after that. The night lurking beyond the headlights of the car seemed pitch-black and crowded with ominous, unseen figures.
Monster showed serious disappointment in A.J.’s decision to bring Andy home. He wasn’t actually growling—once A.J. scolded him—but he did keep muttering under his breath in canine fashion as he settled on A.J.’s feet in the kitchen, where she and Andy sat at the table eating leftover sandwiches and drinking cocoa.
Actually, only Andy was drinking cocoa. A.J. hadn’t been able to enjoy a glass of milk since listening to Aunt Di’s radio program. She drank chamomile tea and talked about Diantha’s will and her own nebulous decision to, perhaps, stay just for a time in Stillbrook.
“Just till I get things in order here.”
“You can’t stay here,” Andy argued. “What about your job? Your apartment?”
Monster gave another of those sleepy groans—which he did every time Andy spoke, as though the sound of Andy’s voice were unbearable to him.
“I’m burnt out,” A.J. told him. “That’s the truth. You can have my clients. They all like you better anyway. I’m ready for a change.”
“But—”
“And the truth is, I don’t have to work. I’m…well…rich.”
Andy stared at her as though he’d never heard the word before.
“And I have Aunt Di’s empire to run, if I want. Somebody has to run it. And apparently she intended for it to be me.”
“That sounds about right. It wouldn’t occur to her that maybe you had your own plans for the future. And if it did occur to her, she’d assume she knew better.”
A.J. wasn’t surprised at Andy’s hostility, but she was surprised that he voiced it now. Andy cared about appearances, and slagging someone five minutes after her funeral was definitely bad form.
She said neutrally, “And as for my apartment, I kind of like seeing the stars at night and walking in the woods. I even sort of like chasing the deer out of my garden.”
“It won’t last,” he said. “You’re a city mouse, not a country mouse. What about your chiropractor? What about Lula Mae? She’s not going to put up with that four-footed thug snoring on your feet.”
“I’ll find a new chiropractor. And…I don’t know what to do about Lula Mae. She’s your daughter, too.”
Andy’s smile was half-hearted at best. “What about me?” he asked.
“What about you?”
“I’ll never see you again.”
“I’m not moving to Poland! And you don’t see me now.” She stared at him with a mix of anger and bewilderment. “Why would you even say that to me after everything that’s happened?”
“Because I miss you!”
Monster growled at Andy’s raised voice, and A.J. stroked him with her stockinged foot. “It’s all right, boy,” she said, although she was having to work not to get angry herself. Andy was staring at his plate, his mouth held in firm check against emotion—emotion that A.J. found utterly baffling.
“Look, you left me, remember? You’re the one who ended everything.”
He looked up. “Why did everything have to end? Why couldn’t we have stayed friends?”
Now A.J. really was angry. “Um
, because friends don’t cheat on friends? Friends don’t leave their friends for other friends—”
“Don’t…don’t negate what we had.”
“Everything we had together was a lie.”
He was shaking his head. “I loved you, A.J. I still love you. It’s…different from…what I feel for Nick. But it’s real.”
This was the conversation she had not wanted to have—and she sure as hell hadn’t wanted to have it now. But she couldn’t seem to stop herself from responding. “You were pretending to be someone else the entire time. How real could it have been?”
“Look, I wanted to be that someone else. I really did. I tried. All my life I tried. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Especially you. I never wanted to be…on the outside.” He swallowed hard. “I mean, it’s crazy, A.J. People hate you for being gay, but then they blame you for trying to build a normal life.”
“Only if you fail.”
She regretted it the moment she said it. He went as white as paper.
“I didn’t mean that,” she said, and she realized it was true. The pleasure had gone out of hurting him. They had built a successful business together; they’d had a wonderful ten years of laughter and companionship and shared passions. True, the one great passion had escaped them.
“Andy,” she said. She put her hand over his motionless one.
He raised his lashes and stared at her with those so-blue eyes. “You’re my best friend in the world. I miss you so much….” He leaned across the table and kissed her. His mouth was gentle and familiar.
A.J. kissed him back. She knew his taste, his scent, the softness of his lips—it was all familiar to her. It was what she had been missing, what she had been longing for….
And it no longer mattered to her.
She drew back, raking a hand through her hair. “I miss you, too,” she admitted.
Andy had a very funny look on his face. He started to smile. “There’s someone else, isn’t there?”
“Talk about ego. No. I’m just over you. There is no one else.” When he continued to grin, she said exasperatedly, “I am capable of letting go and moving on, you know.”
“I know.”
“I’m capable of forgiveness.”
“I know you are. You’re a wonderful, forgiving person.”
“I’m not going to loan you a million dollars even if we are still friends.”
“That’s okay. I only need half a million.”
She laughed reluctantly.
“Is it that cop?”
“Is what who?” she asked reluctantly.
“Are you interested in that cop? The one who stopped by today. The one who doesn’t like me.”
“No. I am not interested in Detective Oberlin. Not if he was the last man on earth.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Andy.
Nineteen
Feeling uncomfortably like it was her first day at a new school, A.J. parked Diantha’s Volvo in the Sacred Balance Studio lot and counted cars. Four cars, not counting her own. She recognized Suze’s blue Beetle, which meant that the remaining vehicles belonged to Simon, Denise Faber, and Lily. It had to be a good sign that Lily had shown up for the meeting, right?
So why did she have that sinking feeling in her stomach?
Breathe deep, A.J. instructed herself. She huffed in and out a couple of times, grabbed the box of pastries from Tea Tea! Hee!, and slipped out of the car.
The glass doors were unlocked, the lobby empty when she walked in. Walking upstairs to the third level, she could hear voices down the hall from the conference room. She followed them to the large sunny room. Her staff was seated around the conference table; they fell silent as she appeared in the doorway.
“Good morning!” she said.
They returned her greeting with significantly less enthusiasm—with the exception of Suze. Suze, bless her heart, had a genuine smile of welcome on her face. It almost made up for Lily’s dour expression. The number one instructor slouched in the chair at the head of the table looking like an insolent elf in her usual black Capri pants and cut-off top.
“I brought pastries.” A.J. set the box on the table.
“Oh, yum!” Suze said, reaching immediately for the box. “There’s coffee on the counter.”
“Caffeine and sugar, the breakfast of champions,” quipped a tall, thin blonde woman who had to be Denise, the Pilates instructor.
Lily snorted.
A.J. told herself to stay cool. Naturally the instructors were going to view her skeptically. She was going to have to prove herself. Being Diantha’s niece was not enough of a qualification—she’d have felt the same way in their place.
She glanced at Simon. He gave her a cordial nod and selected one of the plain doughnuts. See? Divide and conquer.
A.J. poured herself a cup of coffee, doctored it with raw sugar and soy milk, and seated herself midway down the table next to Denise. Suze smiled encouragingly at her—a couple of colored doughnut sprinkles stuck to her lips.
“I guess we may as well get down to it.”
Lily murmured something, which A.J. ignored.
“I know the question first and foremost on everyone’s mind is what will happen with Sacred Balance. According to the terms of my aunt’s will, the studio now belongs to me.”
“Just you?” Denise asked.
A.J. nodded. She glanced at Lily. The other woman’s face was tight.
“It was my aunt’s sincere wish—that’s exactly how she phrased it—that Lily would continue on as lead instructor and a…mentor to me.” She almost choked on that last bit, but honesty compelled her. “And because that was my aunt’s wish, it’s my wish as well.”
No one spoke. Lily glared at her.
A.J. said to Lily, “I know this is difficult for you. I know you believed that the studio would be yours one day. I’m asking you to stay on and…help run things.”
“Help you run things?”
“I’ve decided to stay, at least for the time being, and follow my aunt’s wishes.” A.J. hoped that was a diplomatic way of putting it.
“Do you have any training in yoga?” Lily asked.
“No—”
“Do you have any teaching experience at all?”
“No.”
“Do you have any experience in running a business, large or small?”
“I’ve worked as a freelance—”
“Freelance isn’t running a company, is it?”
“Look, Lily,” A.J. said, her patience running thin, “this was Diantha’s wish. I think you’ll agree that Diantha was experienced in yoga, teaching, and running a business—and she was certainly the person best qualified to know what her own wishes were. This is her decision, and I’m trying to honor it the best I can.”
“This is ludicrous,” Lily said to the others. “She can’t do this without your cooperation.”
“Lily,” Simon said uncomfortably, “there doesn’t seem to be any question about what Di wanted.”
“Well, I’m willing to give it a shot,” Suze said.
“Who the hell asked you?” Lily retorted. “You’re just the receptionist.”
Ugly color flooded Suze’s face. She bit her lip and wiped hastily at the sprinkles.
What a lovely yoga spirit, thought A.J. But she didn’t say it aloud. It was better to let Lily handle her own PR.
“If it makes it any easier, I don’t plan on changing anything right away. I’m going to spend a few weeks talking to you all, talking to our clients, getting a feel for the studio—and getting myself up to speed.”
“You think you can get yourself ‘up to speed’ in a few weeks? We’ve trained for years.”
A.J. hung on to her temper with difficulty. “I realize that. I wasn’t proposing taking over your courses in a few weeks. But I thought it might be fun if I took on a couple of new…lighter classes. Yoga for Children. Yoga for Dogs.”
“Doga?” Simon said doubtfully.
“I’ve been doing some reading; Do
ga is very popular in the media right now.”
“Yoga for Singles?” Suze suggested.
“Perfect,” Lily said sarcastically. “Exactly what I’d expect.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Denise said slowly. She looked at Lily and qualified hastily, “I don’t mean Yoga for Singles, just that I’d like to add more Pilates courses. We get a lot of requests.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” A.J. said.
“I’ve been thinking maybe we could offer something geared to enforcement,” Simon said, getting into the spirit. “Yoga for Cops maybe?”
A.J. pictured Jake Oberlin’s tall, lean form in a cute pair of prAna warm-up pants—and suddenly felt a little warm. “Sure, great idea!” It was the first thing that popped into her head. “Over the next few weeks, it would be really helpful if you all jotted down any notes on ideas you have for the studio. Whatever you think of, whether it’s new classes or, well, anything.”
“We need another instructor,” Denise said. She met A.J.’s gaze and added, “Even if you take on the lighter stuff, we’ll need another full-time, experienced instructor. We’ve needed one for months.”
“Okay.” She glanced at Lily. The lead instructor’s face was scornful. “Can we maybe give it a trial run, Lily?”
Lily’s mouth was a straight line. She stared down the table. The rest of the staff waited.
“Fine,” she said. “A trial run. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
After posting a sign-up sheet for the proposed new classes, A.J. dug Chloe Williams’ personal info out of her files and called the girl’s mother to see how Chloe was doing. Worried about the possible effects of last night’s séance on the girl’s fragile psyche, she wasn’t totally shocked to hear that Chloe had not attended school that day.
“Do you think it would be all right if I stopped by and visited with her?” A.J. asked tentatively.
Mrs. Williams, who hadn’t mentioned anything about the séance, seemed oddly indifferent to A.J.’s request to stop by. “If you want to,” she said vaguely. “I guess that’s better than her sitting and staring at the TV all day.”
It was only too easy to form a picture of a tuned-out and disinterested parent, but maybe that wasn’t fair, A.J. told herself. After all, Mrs. Williams had lost her husband only a few months before; she was probably dealing with a fair share of her own issues, and A.J. knew firsthand how secretive and defensive an alienated teen could be. Luckily, for most of her life A.J. had had her aunt and father to act as a buffer between herself and a self-absorbed Elysia. Chloe no longer had a shock absorber—assuming she’d ever had one.
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